The Creative Commons Licenses and the Freelance Writer/Photographer: An Introduction

The Creative Commons was founded in 2001 and released its first set of copyright licenses in 2002. The Creative Commons licenses, ported to 50 international jurisdictions, have grown exponentially since the release of version 1.0 in December of 2002. The number of issued Creative Commons licenses rose from 1 million in 2003 to 130 million in 2008. However, what is the Creative Commons License and what does it mean to you as a photographer?

What Creative Commons is not is an alternative to copyright. Creative Commons works in conjunction with copyright allowing you to modify the terms of the copyright to meet your needs. Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright and the public domain. From all rights reserved to no rights reserved. Creative Common licenses help you keep your copyright while allowing certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright. Creative Commons collaborated with intellectual property experts all around the world to ensure that their licenses work globally.

With Creative Commons, there are six licenses but before I describe the six licenses, I want to introduce you to the symbols used on them and what they mean.

1. Attribution. People can make use of your work in anyway they want so long as they give you credit in the way you prescribe.

2. Share Alike. Others can nake use of your work as the bases for a derivative work and distribute it as long as they distribute it under an identical license.

3. Noncommercial. Others may reprint and distribute your work or use your work as the bases for a derivative work and distribute that as long as the distribution is for a noncommercial purpose.

4. No Derivative Works. Others may use your works as long as it isn’t modified in anyway. Copies and reproductions must be made verbatim.

The Six Creative Commons Licenses are

With a Creative Commons license you retain the copyright to your work but permit others to use as long as they give you credit in a way you designate. You can apply for and obtain a Creative Commons license on line but here are a few things to consider before applying for a CC license.

1. Is your work copyrightable? The CC license can only be applied to creative works that’s copyrighted.

2. Do you have the right to apply for a CC License for the work? To have the right or authority to apply for the CC License you either have to be the creator of the work or have the authorization of the owner of the copyright to do so.

3. You need to be certain of which CC License you want to apply to the work because once it’s applied it’s non-revocable.

4. You need to be specific about what you’re licensing.

 To apply for a Creative Commons License online, click on this link and follow the onscreen instructions. http://creativecommons.org/choose/

Once you have applied for the CC License, you will be supplied with the HTML code to embed on your web site.

If you are looking to find works licensed under the CC License to use yourself, you can use this CC search site to locate them.  http://search.creativecommons.org/.